Moana adds Nicole Scherzinger, Jemaine Clement and more

We know that Dwayne Johnson is playing demi god Maui and Auli‘i Cravalho will be the title character in Disney's latest, Moana. Now there is confirmation of some of the other roles, with Nicole Scherzinger, Jemaine Clement, Temuera Morrison, Rachel House and, of course, Alan Tudyk all contributing.

Courtesy of a new look at the film by USA Today, the world at large is now aware that Scherzinger and Morrison are Moana's mother Sina and father Tui, the latter the chief of their home (Motunui island) and an overprotective sort who dislikes his daughter's craving for adventure. Then there's House's Gramma Tala, who is closer to Moana than either parent, and who indulges her travelling spirit despite everyone seeing her as the village's crazy old lady.

Also among Moana's friends are Pua, a non-speaking pig who serves as her constant companion, and the bird-brained Heihei (below), who will be brought to life by Tudyk using a combination of rooster crows and other squawks. It's a reassuring presence, given that Tudyk has become the Mouse House's good luck charm on its animation projects, having voiced characters since Frozen.

Then there is the villainous side of the film, partly personified by Clement's Tamatoa, a 50-foot-long crab who has a history with Maui and is currently in possession of the demi-god's powerful fish hook. Suffice to say, there's beef. Does that make their rivalry surf and turf?

Finally, we have a coconut monster creatures the Kakamora, who prove to be an early threat. Moana, which finds the young woman setting out on a vital voyage to help her people, will also feature the vocal talents of Hamilton veteran Phillipa Soo, with Disney stalwartsRon Clements and John Musker directing. The movie will be out in the UK on December 2.

Stranger Things Season 2 would be ‘like Harry Potter’

With the first season of Stranger Things currently putting a big fat grin on the face of the Netflix-watching world, thoughts are turning to a sequel. Nothing’s confirmed but if there’s no return trip to the Upside Down planned, we’ll eat our Dungeons & Dragons board. And how would it play out? Well, Harry Potter-ishly in short.

The Boy Who Lived is the parallel its creators are using to explain the way they see Mike and the other kids’ stories developing. "We’ve been talking about Harry Potter, even though it's weird to compare,” co-creator Matt Duffer tells Empire. "I like that you're revisiting these kids and watching them grow up on a year-to-year basis.”

Expect the story to pick up right where the first instalment left off. “If Netflix want to do [another run], Season 2 would function almost more like a sequel than it would ‘Season 2’. We're leaving that door open if people like the show."

Warning: mild Season 1 spoilers follow

The first season wrapped itself relatively neatly, with only a thread or two left untied ("We didn't want to do The Killing or the Homeland thing where you stretch one storyline out,” stresses Matt Duffer), but the town of Hawkins, Indiana has many secrets yet to spill. "There’s a mythology in terms of the evil that’s happening in the town that we dip our toes into this season,” expands Duffer, "but it isn’t actually explored: it’s only scratching the surface of what this thing is.”

"Without giving anything away, when you open the door to alternate dimensions, there’s a lot you can do. We’re not really boxed in!"

Jessica Chastain will join Jake Gyllenhaal in The Division

With Jake Gyllenhaal already in place, Ubisoft game adaptation The Division is upping its star quotient even further. Jessica Chastain is now in the midst of making a deal to join Gyllenhaal.

The new movie will be based on the game's basic story, in which the player becomes an agent off the Strategic Homeland Division, which is looking for the origins of a devastating smallpox outbreak. As the Division begins to rebuild its operation in a dystopian New York City, it'll also have to deal with the crime that has popped up in the wake of the epidemic.

There are no further details on what either acting will be playing, though we'd figure they'll be operatives working for the titular organisation. Ubisoft is putting all the pieces in place (so expect a director to be announced soon enough.) And it's just the latest game-to-film project from the company, which also has Assassin's Creed on the way, starring Michael Fassbender.

Chastain has worked on several films recently, including Miss Sloaneand The Zookeeper's Wife. She's attached to star in Aaron Sorkin's directorial debut, Molly's Game.

Black Mirror returns in October

If you haven't been feeling terrified by the technological and sociological future, you clearly haven't seen enough people wandering the streets playing Pokemon Go. But to reinfuse that creeping feeling of dislocation and panic, Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror is headed back to screens courtesy of Netflix, and now we know it'll premiere on October 21.

Netflix has taken advantage of a TV press tour to announce more details of the six episodes is has backed from Brooker and producer Annabel Jones as part of a third "season" (we feel like it should be "series", given its UK roots.)

Brooker and his team have gathered a typically eclectic bunch of concepts, directors and actors for the new episodes, which will launch on the streaming service at the same time. So get ready for San Junipero, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Mackenzie Davis and directed by Owen Harris, Shut Up And Dance featuring Jerome Flynnand Alex Lawther, directed by James Watkins, Joe Wright directingNosedive, which stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Alice Eve and James Norton, Men Against Fire featuring Michael Kelly, Malachi Kirby and Madeline Brewer directed by Jakob Verbruggen, Hated In The Nation, which has Kelly MacDonald and James Hawes in the director's chair and finally, Playtest, starring Wyatt Russell and Hannah John-Kamen, directed by 10 Cloverfield Lane's Dan Trachtenberg.

Topics covered this time include social media and video game testing but not Pokemon Go. Still, as Brooker says, "It’s fair to say that this season, some of the ideas are because we were aware of the greater progress of the world, that you’ve got to go two steps forward to stay ahead of reality at the moment. There are things that are more demented then Pokemon Go within this season." Cannot. Wait.

Mackenzie Foy will be The Nutcracker's Clara

With Lasse Hallstrom in place to direct, Disney's new version of The Nutcracker is coming together. Now the movie has a leading lady, with Mackenzie Foy on board The Nutcracker And The Four Realms.

Originally written by E.T.A. Hoffman as a story called The Nutcracker And The Mouse King and famously turned into a hugely successful ballet by Tchaikovsky, the basic plot follows a young girl named Clara who receives a nutcracker doll from her godfather one Christmas Eve. Seized with the need to see her present as the clock strikes midnight on Christmas Day, she's transported into a fantastical world rent asunder by a conflict between gingerbread soldiers and an army of mice.

Ashleigh Powell has written the latest adaptation, and Foy will be Clara. The movie already boasts the talents of ballerina Misty Copeland, and Hallstrom is now in pre-production, though there is now official release date yet.

Foy, who kicked off her film career as Renesmee in the final twoTwilight films, scored healthy critical attention as the younger Murph inInterstellar. She'll next be heard as part of the voice cast of The Little Prince, which arrives in the States on August 5 but has yet to lock in a UK release.

Meryl Streep ready to join Emily Blunt in Mary Poppins Returns

Busy making preparations for Mary Poppins sequel Mary Poppins Returns, director Rob Marshall is looking to wrangle a reunion for two of his Into The Woods stars. He already has Emily Blunt as Mary, butMeryl Streep is now in talks to be her cousin.

David Magee has written the script, which draws on material from author P.L. Travers' other Poppins novels that followed the original. The story this time finds the magical nanny returning to the Banks family in Depression-era London to find that her charges Jane and Michael Banks have now grown up. Michael has three children of his own, and they all need a little help re-discovering the joy in life.

Poppins will need the help of street lamplighter Jack (to be played byHamilton musical god Lin-Manuel Miranda, who recently departed the show he created and starred in to pursue other projects) and cousin Topsy, which will allow Streep to once again show off both her award-winning acting ranging and her proven singing voice.

Marc Platt (who also worked on Woods) will be the producer, whileMarc Shaiman and Scott Wittman are handling the music chores. The movie should be arriving just in time for Christmas 2018.

Chris Evans wanted as Lionsgate's Jekyll

Place your bets! We might be in for a case of dueling Jekylls. While Universe has been busy seeding its connected monster universe, which includes Russell Crowe appearing in The Mummy as Dr. Jekyll, Lionsgate has also been developing a film loosely based on the story of twisted split personalities. The studio now has Chris Evans attached to play the lead role.

While the Universal version has its own spin, the Lionsgate movie would be based on Steven Moffat's 2007 BBC series. Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry are at work on a script that would focus on Tom Jackman, a modern-day descendent of Jekyll who has inherited his condition through genetics. So he sets up a secure basement in which he can be stepped into a chair and monitored by a nurse as he changes. The Mr. Hyde in this case has enhanced strength and a raging personality that can also be a charming devil. Neither man remembers what the other one does while inhabiting Jackman's body, and they communicate using recordings. Of course, Hyde manages to get out one night and goes in search of Jackman's family...

The movie is still hunting for a director, and Evans' isn't 100% confirmed yet. There will also be his busy Marvel schedule to factor in, with two Avengers: Infinity Wars films to consider. He'll next be seen inGifted, out on June 16 next year.